Of Black Lace and Fake Jewelries
by EarnestInBerlin
Summary: AU. Yuki is a writer who is in love with the next door's kid whom he thinks is a girl. Shuichi is the next door's kid and is gender dysphoric. What's next?


Yuki likes Shuichi- or rather Yuki likes Shuichi's voice.

But there's one problem; he doesn't know Shuichi is a boy.

**Of Black Lace and Fake Jewelries**

**Chapter One**

Every morning, I would sit and listen. I didn't need to go far away, just sit inside my study and open the windows. They have to be wide, because if I keep the space to a minimum then I wouldn't hear the mellow crooning of my next door neighbor's kid. I never heard it the first time. It took three days and eventually on the last day, I heard the sound of their daughter's mellow crooning. It was crucial that the third day have occurred, for if not, then I would not waste my time opening the windows every morning now.

There were days when I open the windows; her voice would be accompanied by a radio. But, if I'm lucky, she would just sing on her own without any back up at all.

Lucky, you're going to ask me what difference does it make when she sings with a guitar hanging by her small delicate frame or when she goes on her own.

It's her voice, there something about the way she sings that I can't point. I surprised myself really, I was never into music. (The fact that my study doesn't hold anything like a radio and the Windows Media layer of my laptop is left untouched should show how much my interest in music was.) And here I am craning every morning just to listen to some little adolescent brat sing. However, I really can't help it.

But it's her voice, you should listen to it and then you will know what I mean. I don't think entertainment will suffice for her; they will and might only damage her spirit. That voice of hers is too good just to be served on a silver CD and sold off as a fad or a trend.

She should be, I don't know, Broadway's baby, not the media's whore or toy.

_Tsumetai toki ga yume ni tadayou,_

In an instant, my hands freeze in the air. Every time she starts to sings, I could feel the world, just about anything and everything stop, halt or freeze to listen to her morning wake up call.

_Sono te no naka ni uketomete_

The girl on the other side, whose room- coincidentally- levels my second floor study, was singing her song again.

_Negai kazoe mezameta toki ni _

Without looking at her straight, just focusing on the green line that has appeared out of nowhere on my unfinished sentence, I could see her. She'd be brushing her short pink hair and smiling, sometimes munching down on a pocky stick or two.

_Yureru maboroshi ni kimi ga utsuru_

It's not perversion of any sorts. I just like listening to his voice.

_Boku no michibiku kasuka na SHIRUETTO_

**(SPACE HERE)**

Shindou Shuichi has never gone to school before and has stepped out of the house alone. The boy has never played on the front lawn and had never made friends- so far the only friends he had was his cousin, Ryu-kun, and his sister, Maiko-chan. His mother always made sure that he's accompanied by someone when he goes out, which doesn't really happen that much.

This was the third time they moved house, he used to live in Tokyo and in Nagoya before they settled here. There were still empty boxes looming here and there, but in all aspect they were ready to live a new life in this neighborhood.

Shuichi's mother was kneeling in front of the boy as she carefully sewed the ends of his new dress. Shuichi's mother was a fashion designer but she wasn't very much known.

Once again, he is playing mannequin for his dear mother. She loves making dresses for him and his sister, and all of Shuichi's clothes were made by his mother's passionate hands ("With love and care in every stitch" she would declare proudly every time she sees her two children masquerading the outfits she had made for them).

"Mama?" the bubble gum haired boy asked, as he fiddled with the laces of his skirt, "Am I really a boy or a girl?"

"Well" his mother put on a thoughtful finger on her chin, she smiled a little bit in her contemplation. His old mother bit a long thread and tried to go through the small hole of one of her most used needles, "Maiko-chan and I call you 'chan' instead of 'kun'…"

"Demo, Mama…" he said, "I don't have… breasts like you or Maiko-chan…" and then his face gone a bit pink, "I also don't have… I also don't have that… that thing…"

"Shu-chan is it really important that you know?" his mother put aside the sharp object.

The boy nodded his head.

It was times like these that the lady can't avoid, after all Shuichi was fourteen. He can't be that naïve and ignorant like he was when he was still younger. She tried to formulate an answer in her head; she told the boy to stand up straight and took her measuring tape.

"Shu-chan" she took the boy's chin, "You're fourteen, are you not?'

He nodded his head again.

"Well, maybe this time I think…" she measured the length from his shoulder blade to his knee, "Back straight, dear, that's better. You're growing up so fast are you?"

"What do you think?" Shuichi prodded.

"Hm…?" the mother of two stopped in her listing down- for the umpteenth time- her child's size, "I think… I think you should choose this time"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you like the cuff or should we leave it like that with a maroon ribbon?"

"I like the maroon ribbon, but what do you mean by that, Mama?"

"Shu-chan, when you were a child… I frankly didn't what to do when I found out you liked playing with dolls and you'd rather wear Maiko-chan's dresses than those pants me and your Papa would buy for you"

Shuichi listened carefully.

"So, I did what I thought was right back then…" she cupped the teenager's face, and pulled an eyeliner out of her pockets then began tracing the lines of her child's eyes, "I just allowed you to be happy in whatever skin you have crawled into. Perfect, so pretty, my little, Shu-chan

"It was hard on your father and me, to accept the fact that you were-"

"A freak?"

"I would like to say, a special child" the woman took a tissue wiped the dirt on her baby's face. "But, we knew it wasn't anyone's fault you're this way… you're different from the rest"

"That doesn't sound very reassuring, Mama" the strawberry haired boy crossed his arms and pouted.

"Well, I try to be, but I don't know what else to say actually right now…" the woman said, "Now which do you think should go nice with the dress of yours? Stocking with black and white horizontal lines or just plain white ones?"

"Ma, you're not answering my question…"

"As I said, I don't know what to say" she shrugged her shoulders, then took a lipstick from her kit, "Now open up those nice lips of yours"

"Mama…"

"Just be whatever you want to be, Shu-chan" his mother replied, "To me, even if you go dating other men, I'd still love my little Shu-chan, anyway. And besides, saves more trouble, we don't want anyone getting pregnant around here, now do we?"

"Ma, that is so gross!" the pink haired boy declared.

"Ow, shush, and pucker up"

The little one followed and let his mother apply the cosmetic. The little confused boy shook his head inside, as he felt a warm smile grace his face. She was just trying her best in a situation that isn't usually in the parent's to do list when she puckered up hereself for matrimony.

His mom was a silly and clueless creature, and for one, he didn't really mind that his question was still left unaswered.

**(SPACE HERE)**

A/N: This was so random… and all because I finally found out what 'gender dysphoria' meant. No beta, no correction, so bear with it. Will continue if people review… so give me reviews! They're love!


End file.
